Israel chock full of fascination

An Israeli Bedouin rides his camel after a camel race in the Negev desert near Arad. The Bedouin minority are descendants of nomadic tribes that lived in the Middle East for centuries.AFP, Getty Images
/ For The StarPhoenix

Related

With a shalom and an as-salamu alaykum, Salaman Sadan welcomes another group of travellers to his spacious tent. He distributes glasses of spicy tea as he begins to tell his story of a Bedouin life in Israel's Negev desert.

Born at the end of the nomadic period for this beleaguered indigenous people, Sadan was raised in the traditional ways of a goat and camel herder. Among the first Bedouin children to attend a Jewish school, he went on to a 15-year career in the tourism industry before reclaiming his Bedouin culture and the herder's life.

A natural storyteller, his amusing tales of the incongruous cultural clashes between the nomads and the Israelis who took control of his world in the 1960s have us rapt. There's the time he naively wears a girl's bathing suit; the reaction when he arrives at school on a camel; his method of avoiding homework (it helps when your parents don't know what a book or a pencil is.)

His wife brings in a ball of fresh dough that Sadan kneads into a flat loaf, sets directly on the low fire and covers with coals.

He explains the Israelis banned goat herding because the wandering Bedouins impeded military operations (approximately 80 per cent of the Negev is an active weapons range) and because of the environmental damage goats cause. The Bedouin were told to settle down and raise sheep.

Sadan explained that goats need water weekly, camels biweekly. But a few hours after the Bedouins took delivery of their new sheep, they were thirsty and bleating. The herders began to walk with the sheep in search of water when they happened on a strange object sticking out of the ground. They studied it a while and eventually hit it with a spike. Allah be praised, water gushed forth and the sheep were saved.

Everyone settled in around the new spring and much partying ensued. Then the waterline inspector showed up. "This is not yours, you can't stay here." They hadn't realized this was someone else's spring and reluctantly moved on. A few kilometres later they happened on another pipe. Alhamdulillah, another spring!

The government soon realized that reliable water was the way to get the Bedouin to settle and installed a tap.

Sadan takes the bread from the ashes and gives it a good beating to clean it off, breaks it into pieces and passes the platter. Needless to say, it's delicious. Over fresh bread, he explains that nomadism in Israel is largely a thing of the past, but tourism is becoming a mainstay of desert life.

Yoash Limon, our guide for the EcoNegev 2011 tour, set up his guiding business after falling in love with desert history and ecology as a child hiking with his parents. Everywhere you go in Israel, he explains, there is history under foot. Mamshit, the National Park and World Heritage Site in the southern Negev, for example, is a remarkably wellpreserved Nabatean city along the Incense Road that included their ancient capital Petra.

At the ruins of Mamshit's main Christian church, its intricate Fifth Century CE mosaic floor intact, Limon explains how Christian worship brought an end to the incense trade. The church is immediately adjacent to a temple and Limon speculates that the Christians stood at the church doors and kindly offered temple-goers a drink of water. Peeking into the church, the worshippers would notice its fresh, clear air.

Temples were places of continuous animal sacrifice; the incense trade existed to provide the frankincense and myrrh needed to cover the stench of blood and gore. Christianity did not require animal sacrifice, ergo its rise to dominance rang the death knell of the incense trade and the Nabatean empire.

For those more interested in nature than human culture and history, the Negev offers its harsh, stark beauty and the opportunity to explore its resilient, arid ecosystem. Perhaps the most spectacular site is the 40-kilometre-long Makhatesh Ramon, the largest of three massive erosion craters of a type found only in Israel.

A great staging ground for any of these activities is the traditional Be'erotayim Khan, a desert inn built of mud, shaded by a lone acacia tree and woven fronds from date palms. The Negev has every level of accommodation, from luxurious spa hotels to Spartan Field Camps, but even the pampered will be charmed by the rustic khan. With rainfall limited to a few millimetres a year, and no water or vegetation to support mosquitoes or flies, the khan is comfortable as an openair retreat where life merges with the land.

We lounge on carpets and cushions around a fire, drinking herbal teas or bracing coffee, listening to stories of desert adventures. Like most Israeli fare, the meals of couscous and fresh vegetables are simple but delicious. If you want to do something more than relax, the khan's herd of 25 camels is available for short rides and multi-day treks that follow the trail of the caravans.

If you prefer luxury - and money is no object - try the wonderful Beresheet Isrotel Hotel and spa at Mitzpe Ramon. Not usually a fan of buffets, I had to admit theirs was second to none.

Ecotourists may want to time their visit to the Negev to correspond with the spring and fall bird migrations. With 500 million birds passing through the tip of Israel twice a year, birders flock in to check off their sighting lists.

In my mind, the most remarkable features of the Negev are the desert-defying farms and settlements. Most Israeli kibbutz have renounced their communal values, but a few, like the Kibbutz Lotan and Neot Semadar, have retained their original egalitarian ideals and recast themselves as eco-villages. Both have transformed the parched desert into Edenic oases that are completely unexpected after a few days travelling the desiccated plains and wadis.

Half the fun in Israel is meeting people; our delightful guide in Ein Gedi, Zabu Leviyim, an elderly kibbutzim originally from Shiraz, explained that the collection resulted from the Ein Gedi residents' experimentation with plants from around the world.

TRIP PLANNER

- I couldn't recommend tour guide Yoash Limon more highly. Contact information is available on his website, www.ChosenPath.co.il.

- Eco-oriented tours and self-tours can be arranged through the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) at www.teva.org.il/english/ or the Israel Nature and Parks Authority at www.parks.org.il. Information about Mamshit and the Makhatesh Ramon is available on the parks site. The SPNI offers lower-cost accommodations through its field schools located around the country.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.